BUSINESS PROFILE  SUCCESS_ E van Thornley is excited. He says so several times during our interview and, by the time we part ways, I must admit I am excited too. When you hear what he has to say, you’ll feel the same way. Why? Because Evan Thornley – dot-com entrepreneur, turned politician, turned CEO of Better Place Australia – is hoping to change the world. Here’s how. Better Place is the brainchild of Israeli software mogul Shai Agassi and his mission is simple – to end the world’s dependency on oil. He aims to do that by rolling out a global network to support zeroemission electric cars. Australia has been chosen as the third country, after Israel and Denmark, to receive the Better Place treatment, and Thornley is the man in charge of making it happen. He says we’ll see the first Better Place-operated cars on Australian roads in 2012 and expects we’ll all be driving them by 2020. To understand the Better Place business model, we must look beyond the electric car itself, because the company is not interested in making cars. Instead, it will build and operate a vast network of plug-in points that paying subscribers will access to charge their cars. These points will look like parking meters and be scattered in their millions throughout Australian car parks, streets and home garages. But it gets better. The biggest criticism against electric cars is that poor battery range and long recharge times make them impractical for longdistance driving, which, frankly, is true. While Better Place batteries already have a range of 160 kilometres on a single charge, the real game-changer is the company’s innovative battery exchange stations. They’ll operate much like an automatic car wash – the driver pulls in and an automated process takes over, swapping the car’s depleted battery for a new, fully-charged one in less time than it takes to fill up a tank of petrol. This is all covered by the driver’s subscription fee to Better Place. It’s a compelling idea, but to bring it to life, Better Place must build a vast network of plug-in points and exchange stations across the country. They calculate that it will cost around $1 billion over the next few years, a task Thornley does not take lightly. “At one level, we’re a start-up company but at another level this is an organisation that, globally, has raised about $500 million in the last year and BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS INESS PROFILE  SUCCESS_ E van Thornley is excited NESS PROFILE  SUCCESS_ E van Thornley is excited. He says so several times during our interview and, by the time we part ways, I must admit I am excited too. When you hear what he has to say, you’ll feel the same way. Why? Because Evan Thornley – dot-com entrepreneur, turned politician, turned CEO of Better Place Australia – is hoping to change the world. Here’s how. Better Place is the brainchild of Israeli software mogul Shai Agassi and his mission is simple – to end the world’s dependency on oil. He aims to do that by rolling out a global network to support zero- emission electric cars. Australia has been chosen as the third country, after Israel and Denmark, to receive the Better Place treatment, and Thornley is the man in charge of making it happen. He says we’ll see the first Better Place-operated cars on Australian roads in 2012 and expects we’ll all be driving them by 2020. To understand the Better Place business model, we must look beyond the electric car itself, because the company is not interested in making cars. Instead, it will build and operate a vast network of plug-in points that paying subscribers will access to charge their cars. These points will look like parking meters and be scattered in their millions throughout Australian car parks, streets and home garages. But it gets better. The biggest criticism against electric cars is that poor battery range and long recharge times make them impractical for long- distance driving, which, frankly, is true. While Better Place batteries already have a range of 160 kilometres on a single charge, the real game-changer is the company’s innovative battery exchange stations. They’ll operate much like an automatic car wash – the driver pulls in and an automated process takes over, swapping the car’s depleted battery for a new, fully-charged one in less time than it takes to fill up a tank of petrol. This is all covered by the driver’s subscription fee to Better Place. It’s a compelling idea, but to bring it to life, Better Place must build a vast network of plug-in points and exchange stations across the country. They calculate that it will cost around $1 billion over the next few years, a task Thornley does not take lightly. “At one level, we’re a start-up company but at another level this is an organisation that, globally, has raised about $500 million in the last year and Swap Swap your empty battery for a full one and feel free to take the scenic route. MAYVOYEUR 077 V0509_074_082_BUSINESS_PROFILE.i077 077 V0509_074_082_BUSINESS_PROFILE.i077 077 7/04/2009 10:13:56 AM 7/04/2009 10:13:56 AM